Letters to Destinee.

The other night I was watching Letters to Juliet on ABC Family. If you don't know the movie, it's darling. Not necessarily the best writing or acting but still adorable. Now the main story line is about this girl named Sophie who goes to Verona (with her fiance but he's never there and he's kind of immaterial to me, TBH) and as she's sightseeing she comes across Juliet Capulet's house. She's intrigued by seeing all of these girls crying while writing letters and then tacking them onto the wall of Juliet's house. So, she's sitting there watching these girls until there's no one left (creepy, but she's a writer. Maybe that makes more sense, lol.) and sees this woman take the notes down, put them in a basket, and walk away. So she follows and then questions the woman why she has taken the letters. The woman belongs to this "group" called the Secretaries of Juliet and they respond to all of the letters as Juliet and sends them back to the people who leave their return address. Intrigued, Sophie comes back the next day and helps them out. She finds this letter wedged behind a rock in the wall and tells the ladies she needs to respond, even if 50 years has passed.

The letter reads:

"I didn't go to him, Juliet. I didn't go to Lorenzo. His eyes were so full of trust I promised I'd meet him and run away together because my parents don't approve. But, instead, I left him waiting for me below our tree - waiting and wondering where I was. I'm in Verona now. I return to London in the morning and I am so afraid. Please, Juliet tell me what I should do. My heart is breaking and I have no one else to turn to. 

Love, Claire"

This is what I want to talk about. Claire was 15 when she met Lorenzo and she KNEW he was the one for her. What would you have done? Would you have gone to him? I'd like to think that I would and I wouldn't have regretted it but in all honesty, when I was 15 I definitely had no idea what love was. I knew what I thought it was but it's not like I could have defined it for you. Another thing, I would have wanted to finish school. Hello, there was no way I'd 15 with no education what so ever. But maybe, if I knew that this was the person I'd be with forever, maybe I'd run away. Or maybe I would have just told him to cool his jets and wait for me to graduate high school. I'll never know.

So, this leads me to the troubling question 'how do you know you're in love?" Um, okay. I Googled that just to see what popped up. It seems, that you just KNOW. Plenty of people seem to agree that you get "butterflies" and your heart will "smile" when seeing them. How can a heart smile? That's not even poss--never mind. I can't. Basically, the reasons were crap. TOTAL CRAP. I complied a list of sorts that I think fits perfectly.

How to REALLY Tell if You're in Love

1. You'll give them your fries. (In my opinion, love is measured by the amount of potatoes they're willing to give to you.)

2. When you play a game you will let them win without letting them know you just gave up.

3. You will laugh at all of their jokes. Even the corny ones.

4. You will NOT judge them on their love for irrelevant things such as Victoria's Secret models.

5. If they are willing to feed you, keep them.

6. They will let you decorate however you want. That includes that giant door cover that says "the princess is sleeping".

7. You will let them drive your car, even if they have only had their license a month and have gotten into 14 accidents already.

8. You will give them their coupon for something free, especially if it's something as awesome as a banana split.

9. You are willing to let them play video games and only interrupt them once.

10. You will leave the room to fart so you don't pollute their air.

If you couldn't tell, that list is purely for amusement. It made me giggle, maybe it'll do the same for you. Love isn't something that can really be defined in words, just actions. That word is thrown around too often these days to hold meaning itself, so it's the actions that will put something behind it. You know what they say, actions speak louder than words. Now, I'm going to leave you will the letter that was written in response to Claire's letter to Juliet. It really does hold meaning, and I hope you learn from it. Seize love and never, ever, be too scared to follow your heart.

"Dear Claire, 

"What" and "If" are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? I don't know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like - love to leave loved ones for, love to cross oceans for but I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, that I will have the courage to seize it. And, Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will. 

All my love, Juliet"

Until next time, make it rain.
D